Medicinal Plants Cultivation: A Comparative Economic Analysis

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In recent times plants having medicinal values have attracted enormous attention because of two reasons; first, for the rationale of biological diversity and second, because of economic contemplation. Concern regarding the diversity of plant species has become imperative as loss of forests, particularly in the Eastern Himalayan region, may cause extinction of many valuable medicinal plant species for ever. The tribal communities having vast indigenous knowledge system regarding the medicinal values of various plants are also used to practise jhum cultivation that causes deforestation and hence extinction of a large number of plant species. Then why they continue to practise jhum cultivation? Is this mode of cultivation more profitable? What is the rate of return from the cultivation of medicinal plants? Is farming of medicinal plants an alternative to jhum cultivation? This book finds that for sustainable development agricultural sustainability is required and jhum or shifting cultivation is no more sustainable from the ecological point of view as jhum cycle in recent times has reduced drastically. Calculating benefits and costs of medicinal plants' cultivation as well as that of jhum we observe that private benefit-cost ratio of the former type of farming is higher than the latter and when social costs and benefits are included with private costs and benefits we estimate much higher benefit-cost ratio of medicinal plants than jhum cultivation.

NURSADH ALI (b. 1963) has been Reader in Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru College, Pasighat and has very recently joined as the Principal of Chandidas Mahavidyalaya under the University of Burdwan, West Bengal. He obtained higher education including Ph. D from the Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. Dr. Ali had been the Visiting Fellow in Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, with the World Bank Post-Doctoral Fellowship on Environmental Economics during 2001-02. He is also the recipient of the Asian Fellowship Award and currently affiliated with the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand. He is the author of books entitled Allocative Efficiency of Rice Farmers in West Bengal and Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Development in North-East India and has published a good number of research papers on various issues of Economics in reputed journals of national importance. Dr. Ali's area of research interest is natural resource management through institutional approach and sustainable development.

In recent years environmental resource like forest conservation has been the prime focus of the environmentalists, planners and policy makers for achieving sustainable development. In many places like Arunachal Pradesh where tribal communities are found to practice jhum cultivation for the production of food crops at subsistence level and hence destroys forests stock has been a real challenge to protect forests because the socio- economic and cultural bondage of the tribesmen is intricate and so far government could not project some alternative method of land use planning so that they find it economically superior and technically viable. However, at present the increased scope of medicinal plants in national and international market may appear as suitable substitutes of jhum cultivation to the tribal farmers as the indigenous knowledge system and climatic condition of the region is conducive for large scale production of a variety of medicinal plants. Keeping in mind such a case here we have made a humble attempt to estimate cost and benefit of medicinal plants and other forms of agricultural production in Arunachal Pradesh to help induce the farmers to accept it an option to jhum cultivation.

The present volume is the product of a major research project sponsored by the University Grants Commission. In conducting the project I have received helps from a large number of persons and institutions. At the very out set I would like to express my sincere thank to University Grants Commission for giving me financial support to conduct this study. I am also indebted to Shri S.R. Choudhury, Principal (in charge) of our College for his encouragement and support I have received during the works of the project and finally the book. Shri Bappa Ghosh who has worked as the project fellow deserves a special appreciation for his hard working nature and sincere concern about the project for last two years. I also acknowledge the officers, personnel of various institutions we have visited to obtain data for this project including the selected respondents for their help and cooperation in collecting information that have been incorporated to this project.

**Contents and Sample Pages**